18 Chinese Are Held in Ring To Smuggle Human Cargo

Published: June 24, 1994

CAPE MAY, N.J., June 23—
The Coast Guard brought ashore 18 Chinese nationals in handcuffs this morning, accusing them of trying to smuggle 108 of their countrymen into the United States.

The 18 were identified by the Coast Guard as enforcers in the smuggling operation. They and their human cargo were intercepted outside territorial waters on Saturday aboard a fishing vessel, the Captain Denny.

Coast Guard and Immigration and Naturalization Service agents escorted the Chinese and six Vietnamese crew members of the Captain Denny off the fishing vessel. Appeared to Be in Good Health

They were met by Coast Guard, F.B.I. and I.N.S. officials and taken to a processing center at the Coast Guard station here.

The 22 men and 2 women appeared to be in good health. But three Coast Guard officers wore hazardous materials suits as a precaution.

"The word we have is that these people have been on this boat for a long time," said Lieut. Cmdr. Bill Mathus of the Coast Guard. "We don't know what infections they might have." Boarded 350 Miles at Sea

A base spokesman, Lieut. Ed Swift, refused to say where the 18 will be taken.

The sheriff of Cape May County, Jim Plousis, said about 16 would be held overnight in the county jail and then taken to Camden to be arraigned Friday.

The 108 illegal aliens were put aboard the cutter Reliance, which boarded the Captain Denny 350 miles off Norfolk, Va., the Coast Guard said.

Lieutenant Swift said the State Department is trying to find a third country to accept the Chinese aliens. He did not know how long the vessel had been at sea, where its last port of call was or its current location.

The Captain Denny's home port is Philadelphia but operates out of Cape May, the Coast Guard said.

Photo: The fishing vessel Captain Denny being brought into the Coast Guard station at Cape May, N.J. Aboard were 18 Chinese nationals, identified as smugglers of aliens, and six Vietnamese crew members. (Associated Press)